December 17, 1997
                                                
 
 
                            GSBCA 14347-RELO
 
 
                     In the Matter of DAN R. MAYER
 
 
        Dan R. Mayer, Lebanon, OR, Claimant.
 
        Cathrine L. Beaty, Director, Financial Management, Pacific
   Northwest Region, Forest Service, Portland, OR, appearing for
   Department of Agriculture.
 
   DANIELS, Board Judge (Chairman).
 
        An agency may enter into a contract with a private company
   to provide relocation services to employees who are transferred
   from one duty station to another.  5 U.S.C.A.   5724c (West Supp.
   1997); 41 CFR 302-12.2 (1997).  These services are intended to
   assist the employees in moving.  They include home sale programs,
   home marketing assistance, home finding assistance, and property
   management services.  41 CFR 302-12.1.
 
        When Forest Service employee Dan R. Mayer was transferred
   from Colville National Forest in Washington State to the Pacific
   Northwest Forestry Sciences Laboratory in Corvallis, Oregon, his
   agency offered him the opportunity to receive relocation services
   from a contractor.
 
        The contractor, based on appraisals it received, determined
   that Mr. Mayer's home was worth $282,500.  Mr. Mayer thought that
   the house was worth much more money -- $536,975.  He had listed
   it through a real estate broker at a price of $495,000, and he
   knew that it had been assessed for tax purposes at $362,000.  He
   appealed the valuation put on the property in the appraisals, but 
   was unsuccessful in persuading the contractor to change its
   determination.
 
        The Forest Service and the General Services Administration
   both advised Mr. Mayer that he was not required to accept the
   relocation services company's offer for his house.  Instead, they
   counseled him, he could sell the property himself (including
   through a real estate broker of his own choosing) or attempt, by
   presenting the company with a higher offer from a third party, to
   induce an increase in the firm's price.
 
 
        Mr. Mayer did not follow this advice.  Instead, he accepted
   the contractor's offer.  He now claims that he is entitled to
   payment of the difference between the assessed and appraised
   values, $79,500.
 
        The Federal Travel Regulation makes clear that if an agency
   authorizes an employee to enter a home sale program, the employee
   need not accept the relocation services contractor's offer to
   purchase his house.  41 CFR 302-12.107.  "Your agency must give
   you the option to accept or reject an offer from the . . .
   company."  Id.  The Forest Service complied with this mandate. 
   Mr. Mayer opted to accept the offer.  He must live with the
   consequences of his choice.
 
        The claimant believes that he had no alternative to taking
   the contractor's offer, since he was both disabled and away from
   home on a long-term detail while preparations for the transfer
   were being made.  Neither statute nor regulation permits an
   employee to force the Government or the contractor to compensate
   him for what he may later recognize to have been a bad business
   decision, however.  Even if a justification for his action could
   shift liability, we do not understand what impact Mr. Mayer's
   physical condition or location might have had on his ability to
   hire a broker to sell the house on his behalf. 
 
        The claim is denied.
 
                                 _________________________ 
                                 STEPHEN M. DANIELS 
                                 Board Judge